Weight Is Not The Problem And Diets Are Not The Solution

If our weight was the problem, diets would fix us. More significant are the problems that weight loss obsession may keep us from addressing.

Almost every woman we see in the media is as thin as a rail, glammed to the nines, and smiling.

Almost every food we’re sold by the media is loaded with fat, sugar, and salt – the unholy trinity that keeps us trapped in the cycle of craving, binge, and regret.

It’s no wonder so many of us feel so nuts.

There is a small handful of gals who can live in a culture like this without constantly feeling badly about their bodies, abusing themselves, and/or living from one get-thin-quick scheme to the next.

The few who don’t waste time in weight obsession are more likely to be living their purpose, enjoying themselves, and sucking the marrow from life – regardless of what they weigh.

More and more, the rest of us grow into self-criticizing, weight-obsessed lunatics, flitting from diet to diet in a crazed effort to “fix” what we have come to believe is our biggest problem: our weight.

As an adult who’s been over 300 pounds and who’s gotten down to and maintains a size 8, ¹ I can tell you that our weight is almost never the problem. The problem – if there is one – is less obvious.

So long as we labor under the illusion that our weight is the problem, most of us are bound to sabotage whatever effort we make to lose it.

Those who believe that weight is the problem may never lose it. #weightloss #fitness

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Lemme simplify:

If we’re focused on losing weight, we will gain weight. ²

IF we’re overweight and IF that feels problematic, we can lose weight ³ in a healthy and sustainable way if we look at and begin to heal the REAL problems that may be causing our bodies to cling to excess fat, problems of which our weight may be little more than a symptom:

1- Physical Illness

Physical illness is a problem, and in a handful of cases, one that can result in weight gain. Hypothyroidism and Cushing’s Disease are two illnesses that can cause weight gain. Once diagnosed, both are treatable. Neither is treated with weight loss diets.

2- Mental Illness

Mental illness is a problem, and the Taylor Swift of mental health diagnoses – Depression – can inspire weight gain. Depression is treatable with therapy and medication, but studies suggest that taking loving action ⁴ is just as, if not more, effective. Then there’s addiction, ⁵ compulsions, ⁶ and disorders like Binge Eating Disorder. In none of these conditions is weight the “problem,” though admittedly it’s a oft-occurring symptom.

3- Side Effects

Side effects of medications are a problem, and some antidepressants, steroids, high blood pressure and anti-seizure medications may cause weight gain. In most cases, alternative medications are available.

4- Neglect

Neglect is a problem that can contribute to unwanted weight gain, and it can be the result of mental illness, poverty and/or limitations (real or imagined) on other resources. Neglect is not getting adequate medical care, or not meeting the body’s most fundamental needs. Depending on the reason for the neglect, the solution might be as simple as a re-ordering of priorities, or as complex as a total re-imagining of the social service structure of a nation.

5- Self-Abuse

Self-abuse is a problem that causes much of our unwanted weight gain. Because we live in a market-driven culture that revolves around hard ⁷work, consumption, and convenience, self-abuse is sometimes mis-labeled “pleasure.” Sadly, labeling what we do in our off-time “pleasure” doesn’t make stuffing our bodies full of toxic crap, drinking to excess, smoking, popping pills, or going way out of our way to not move our bodies any less damaging, and ultimately, painful. ⁸

Then there’s the moment we finally say “screw this” after years of failed dieting attempts, because we’re so freaking sick of wasting our precious time trying to lose weight and having even “diets that work” ultimately not work that we need to put that shit aside so we can think about something else for once.

This is not a problem. This is a blessing.

The “screw it” place is a gift. Here we finally accept that dieting does not work, and that focusing on losing weight  – or on maintaining weight loss – all but guarantees that we won’t lose it, or we’ll gain it back, and then some.

We need to be done with diets so we can love our bodies, and use that love to do what we need to do to heal the problems of which our weight may only be a symptom.

Go ahead – get angry.

Angry at the diets.

Angry at the empty promises.

Angry for all the time you’ve been angry at your body, when that beautiful body has always deserved your love.

Then inhabit the love.

And then begin to heal.